Black Keys
by Jasmine James
Summary: Ponyboy had always hated playing the black keys. They made everything sound bad, sad, worse. But maybe, just maybe, something can make him change his mind. ONE-SHOT Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders


**I was playing the piano today and this thought just came to me. Tell me what you think!**

**-Jasmine**

As the light from the kitchen buzzed over his head Ponyboypushed his lunch around his plate. He wasn't in the mood to eat. He hadn't been in the mood to eat for a long time. It seemed thateveryone was leaving him.

First it was Mom and Dad. That had been horrible. Pony always lied, he remember the dreamed. The dreams of watching them die over and over again. He knew there was something he could do, he could warn them, but he never was able to move or speak. He didn't want to tell Darry or Sodapop because he didn't want to worry them Had Soda or Darry known what was happening to him, what he was being forced to watch, they would only get more worried.

After Mom and Dad died things got really bad, but after a while they got better. He had the while gang he could talk to! Johnny was great, he was good at making Pony feel better.

Making him... forget.

Then Darry had hit him. It all went downhill from there. It all just snowballed out of control. Pony wasn't sure how much time he would waste just tying to find something he could have done to fix it or to stop it. He was guessing it was a lot of time though.  
Now Johnny was gone. Johnny had really gotten him thought a hard time. Who was going to get him through _this_? Dallas had gone off a killed himself when Johnny died. Sure, people argue that it was really the police that killed him, but anyone who actuallyknew Dallas Winston would know that Dallas wouldn't let the police kill him unless he wanted them to.

That was exactly what he wanted and that is exactly what they did.

Pony stood up from the table. He quickly dumped the cold remains of leftover meatloaf in the garbage.

The house was an odd quiet. The was the only one home at the time. There was now school so Pony figured that he would just bum around the house all day. Now he was really starting to wish he had gone with Soda to work or something. He sat down on the couch and looked at the TV. There wasn't anything good on at that time of day. Even if there was, Pony didn't feel like watching any TV.

He could read a book or something but he had done that all morning. He could got to a movie or the library or visit Sodapopand Steve at the DX, but he really didn't want to be out walking by himself. Pony was just about to decide on taking a good, long nap when something caught his eye.

The piano shown in the light coming from the living room window. Dust floated around it; giving it an old, mysterious feeling. There were pictures scattered all over the top of it. His family, his parent's wedding, Darry just born, Sodapop playing in the sandbox, a small Ponyboy frowning at his mother as she left him at preschool. Pony stood up and looked more deeply into the picture. Finally, his fingers found their way to the most recent one.

The gang was all scattered over the porch. Steve and Soda weresitting on the small bench looking at a magazine together. Two-Bit was leaning on the most far away rail. His hand was stuck out in a wave. He was possibly saying hello to a passing Greaser, or maybe he was trying to make a move on some girl walking past them.

Darry was directly behind Two-Bit. His arms were crossed and he wore an expression that clearly said, "Oh Two-Bit, you're so annoying but I secretly love having you around." It was an expression that the oldest Greaser often gave his rusty haired friend. It was an expression that would look wrong on anyone else. It was simply too... Darry-ish.

On the other side of the porch were Dallas and Johnny. Dallas was leaning on the door. His ice blue eyes were, for once, not hardened with hatred. This was an amazing photo because it captured Dallas Winston smiling. His head was titled up to the ceiling, so that he couldn't see the camera, and he was letting out a big laugh. Sitting in front of the door was Johnny. His big black eyes were looking up at Dally. Johnny, however, was wearing an annoyed expression. Dallas had a hand in his black hair and was messing it up. Clearly Johnny had done something to make the hood laugh. The only person who was missing from the photo was Ponyboy and that was because he was the one taking the picture. Pony remembered that picture very well. It was taken only a few days before he had gotten jumped. Before it had all started... Pony gently set the picture back on the top of the piano's sleek black surface and turned to look at the keys.

Slowly, tentatively, Pony took a seat at the bench. He just sat there and looked at the the keys. There were nice and shiny. Even though it wasn't being used didn't mean it shouldn't be kept clean.

The piano hadn't been played since Pony's mother had died. She was one of the only who did play it. She had taught Pony though. He hadn't played since his birthday that year. He loved to play though. The loved the way that his fingers could just float over the keys. But he hated the black keys.

The black keys. They were sharps and flats and just made everything sound sad. They added a sinister feel to whatever he was playing. Pony looked around. He was alone. No one would hear him, maybe he could just play for a little bit.

Once Pony started it all came back to him. His fingers glided across the ivory keys. It sounded light fluffy, and slow. Then Pony, not really thinking correctly, switch. His fingers only touched the black keys. The tune was tortured but in some way, beautiful.

Pony didn't know how long he was sitting there, playing, but he was having a good time. He was smiling. He was maybe even laughing. He was having fun.

He was... forgetting.

Though Ponyboy stopped short when he heard a floorboard creek. Pony's head whipped around and the song stopped. The final D minor chord ran through the house as both Pony and the intruder locked eyes. He looked at the man. He was standing in the middle of the living room. He gave Pony a worried look; he was totally frozen and looked like he had just been caught doing something horrible.

"How long have you been standing there?" Pony asked in a quiet voice. Steve just looked down and rubbed the back of his neck.

"A while..." He muttered. Pony's ears reddened at his words. He hated when anyone heard him play. He only ever played on his mother birthday and even then when he played he would need his mother to sit next to him and make sure that he was not visible. Now... now he was caught letting his heart out in music by none other than Steve Randle.

By none other than his enemy.

"Why didn't you say anything?" He asked the dark-haired Greaser before him. Steve shrugged.

"It sounded nice... I didn't know you knew how to play." He said quietly. Pony looked down at his fingers. Did Steve just give him a... complement?

"I didn't think you would care." He told him. Steve suddenly felt a bit bad, did he really treat the kid so bad that he wouldn't even give him a complement? Sure, he didn't like it when the kid was always hanging around when he was trying to talk to Soda about girls and such but Pony wasn't really that bad.  
"I do..." Steve took a deep breath. He had been having a pretty weird day. He had been thinking a lot. It was weird, he hadn't been joking or talking girls with Soda. He was just thinking. Was that what it was like to be the kid? He looked down and decided that he would show Pony something. He would tell him something that even Sodapop didn't know.

"I used to play piano." He whispered and looked around the room, he suddenly felt like he was totally naked and exposed. Pony gave Steve a smile.  
"You did?" He asked.

"Yea..." Steve told him. Pony was stunned that Steve had told him something that huge. Trust him that much?

"Will you play something?" The small boy asked. He was expecting Steve to yell at him for suggesting it. Maybe he would slap him or fake him out and mock him for believing him but he didn't do any of that. Steve was totally stunned. That was the last question he was expecting to hear from the young Curtis.

"Um..." Steve said, he was just WAITING for the him to give him a small smile and say he was only kidding but he didn't. His big green-gray eyes just looked up at him expectantly, "Okay..." He finally said and moved over to the piano. Pony sat on the other end of the bench and watched curiously as Steve laid his hands in middle C position. Steve took a deep breath and started to play. C. C. C. D. E. E. D. E. F. G. CCC. GGG. EEE. CCC. G. F. E. D. C. When Steve ended the final note he turned to Pony, waiting to see what the young, intelligent Greaser might tell him.

"Row row row your boat?" Pony asked him in an amused voice. Steve nodded.

"I figured it out myself one day when I was staying the night here. I was real little. Woke up in the middle of the night to get water and started to fool around on it." Pony tried hard not to laugh. Steve shot him an annoyed look.  
"I tell you my _deepest_ darkest secret!" Steve told him in an exasperated tone that was still a bit teasing, "and you LAUGH at me?" Pony finally let out a small laugh.

"Yea." He told him.

"Smart-ass." Steve muttered and gave the small Greaser a nuggiebefore standing up and getting a beer. Steve only had a few more minutes he could spend in the Curtis house. He had gone back on his lunch break to get Soda's hat that he had forgot. He had wasted a long time listening to Pony but he couldn't help but think it was a good kind of waste of time.

Pony watched as Steve waved to him and walked out of the house with Soda's blue DX cap. Steve smile at him and walked out the gate. Pony turned back to the piano. He quietly played, C. C. C. D. E. E. D. E. F. G. CCC. GGG. EEE. CCC. G. F. E. D. C. He looked once more at the door where Steve had been. Steve was a lot like those black keys. Everyone just thought they were sad, bad and shouldn't be played in normal happy songs; or at least, Pony had thought that. But now he was feeling different about the black keys. They added a nice little... flare to the tune. They made it more interesting. Steve was just like the black keys and maybe... maybe he wasn't so bad after all.


End file.
